Issue 1.06 - October 1995
"When industry is totally automated and hyper-efficient, it will create so much wealth that retirement can begin at birth."
Features
Peel away the skin of the digital race car, and you'll find a nervous system of wired, sensors, and black boxes. Old-timers say this new technology is turning motor sports into a big slot-car race. Jacques Villeneuve, Formula One's newest hotshoe, knows better. By Todd Lappin
Brian Arthur's theory of "increasing returns" is revolutionising economics. It's also why the US Department of Justice stopped the Microsoft/Intuit merger. By Paul Kedrosky
At US$40 billion a year in the US, gambling is already bigger than movies and music combined. Guess what's going to be the real killer app on the Net? By Evan I. Schwartz
Olaf Olafsson writes novels and runs Sony Electronic Publishing, in that order. By Charles Platt
Will telephony on the Net bring the telcos to their knees? Or will it allow them to take over the Internet? (And, oh yes, it's damn hard to tap.) Fred Hapgood on the hype and hope of Internet telephony.
According to Hans Moravec, by 2040 robots will become as smart as we are. Then they'll displace us as the dominant form of life on Earth. But he isn't worried - the robots will love us. By Charles Platt
Sandia Labs used to be the "conscience" of the Cold War - its scientists made sure that the nukes worked. Now, the US$4billion question is whether these specialists in everything from astrophysics to virtual reality can create a new mission before the US Congress pulls the plug. By Richard Rapaport
Departments
Global positioning system
Technolust
Electrosphere
By A. Lin Neumann
Three-D engines add a new dimension to computing. Literally. And the best are coming from Britain. Dan O'Brien asks: Why, of all places, here?
Idées Fortes
By Peter Cochrane
2020: The Fibre-Coax Legacy